Twin trunk juniper styling help

[RhyleeRebecca]

I’m rather new (couple years) to bonsai and I picked up this (what was labeled as) Grey Owl Juniper at a local nursery. It’s a good healthy tree and came already with some wire on it, and I’m not sure the best way to style this tree. It’s a twin trunk at the moment but feels a bit clunky, leaning to the left. It’s got some difficult shapes to work with especially on the left most trunk, so I’m not sure what the best design moving forward is! See attached photos for closeups of the foliage, not sure Grey Owl is the correct variety.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I think it's not a grey owl because the foliage on my grey owl is grey, blueish green. Your is vivid green with some yellow. That makes me think it's some kind of pfizer/media or another variety of chinensis.

Next time when buying a tree I would recommend you to pick one with foliage close to the trunk. It'll be hard to make the branches fit to scale if there's only foliage on the outer ends of those branches. That makes designing rather difficult and I believe that's part of the difficulty you're dealing with right now.
As for this one, I see a nice possibility for a twin crown on the left one (edit: in the last picture). The right one has a straight section that could be fixed with some heavy wire.
But wiring junipers in summer is a bad idea because the bark can slip off easily. So for now I'd go for maximal growth and keeping it healthy, then design it in fall or early winter, or late winter.

 

[RhyleeRebecca]

I think it's not a grey owl because the foliage on my grey owl is grey, blueish green. Your is vivid green with some yellow. That makes me think it's some kind of pfizer/media or another variety of chinensis.

Next time when buying a tree I would recommend you to pick one with foliage close to the trunk. It'll be hard to make the branches fit to scale if there's only foliage on the outer ends of those branches. That makes designing rather difficult and I believe that's part of the difficulty you're dealing with right now.
As for this one, I see a nice possibility for a twin crown on the left one (edit: in the last picture). The right one has a straight section that could be fixed with some heavy wire.
But wiring junipers in summer is a bad idea because the bark can slip off easily. So for now I'd go for maximal growth and keeping it healthy, then design it in fall or early winter, or late winter.

Thank you! This advice is very helpful, I agree that the placement of the foliage is difficult. It’s so hard up in my area of the North East where there are no nurseries around and pickings are slim, you get what you get I suppose. I will focus on health and growth this summer and refocus come autumn.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

Are there any plant nurseries that sell garden plants?
The path from a garden plant in a pot to a bonsai can be short; buy it, decide a style, wire the trunk and important branches, leave it for a season, then repot it and see if it lives. If it lives, you can cut it down to a bonsai size and shape. Over here it's about an hour to the closest bonsai nursery, so I get my plants from regular plant stores. This gives me a lower price and more freedom to experiment.
I think both Bonsai Mirai and Bjorn Bjorholm have videos on how to work with nursery stock (in a broad sense).

Just because you're new I'd like to give a heads up that junipers are outdoor plants. I see you have this one indoors, just making sure it spends the rest of the time outside. Conifers especially, need the daily weather, humidity and temperature changes to stay healthy. Without a (pretty expensive and extensive) indoor setup, it's better to keep them outdoors. A couple hours indoors doesn't hurt. But full weeks can do a number on their health or even kill them.

 

[RhyleeRebecca]

Are there any plant nurseries that sell garden plants?
The path from a garden plant in a pot to a bonsai can be short; buy it, decide a style, wire the trunk and important branches, leave it for a season, then repot it and see if it lives. If it lives, you can cut it down to a bonsai size and shape. Over here it's about an hour to the closest bonsai nursery, so I get my plants from regular plant stores. This gives me a lower price and more freedom to experiment.
I think both Bonsai Mirai and Bjorn Bjorholm have videos on how to work with nursery stock (in a broad sense).

Just because you're new I'd like to give a heads up that junipers are outdoor plants. I see you have this one indoors, just making sure it spends the rest of the time outside. Conifers especially, need the daily weather, humidity and temperature changes to stay healthy. Without a (pretty expensive and extensive) indoor setup, it's better to keep them outdoors. A couple hours indoors doesn't hurt. But full weeks can do a number on their health or even kill them.

Yes thank you! I took these photos when I first brought it home and was messing around with it, the little room that it’s in in the photos is fully open to the outdoors anyways but I’ve actually got it living outside now along with my other trees. The store I got this tree from is actually an ordinary plant store with what they call their “bonsai” section, which is basically just odds and ends from their regular stock that one of their workers messes around with and cuts down etc., nothing fancy but the closest dedicated bonsai nursery to me is in NH over an hour + away. One day I’ll make a trip down to look at a genuine nursery but for now, working with what’s around! Thank you really for taking the time to help me and give advice!

 

[RJG2]

Nice to see more people from Maine and especially the Portland area lately!

The store I got this tree from is actually an ordinary plant store with what they call their “bonsai” section, which is basically just odds and ends from their regular stock that one of their workers messes around with and cuts down etc.

O'Donal's?

 

[RhyleeRebecca]

Nice to see more people from Maine and especially the Portland area lately!




O'Donal's?

Yes! Small world!!

 

[Eckhoffw]

I think this has A lot of potential.
If it were mine, I would take that left trunk and wire it up to mimic the right trunks movement to almost parallel.

Then wiring out its pads to the left.

 

[Japonicus]

Bonsai Wiring Essentials

Uncover professional secrets to wiring better, faster and more accurately in this FREE mini-class, and develop beautiful bonsai trees!

www.craftsy.com

There are 5 videos here that will help tremendously.
There is nothing bonsai near me and I've learned mostly on raw nursery stock
a few eBay purchases and a few road trips many hours away.
Hope you enjoy your endeavour.

 

[RhyleeRebecca]

I think this has A lot of potential.
If it were mine, I would take that left trunk and wire it up to mimic the right trunks movement to almost parallel.

Then wiring out its pads to the left.

That visual actually helps a lot, I really like the idea of having the trunks parallel and then focusing on creating a more conical shape with the foliage. Thank you so much!

 

[Eckhoffw]

That visual actually helps a lot, I really like the idea of having the trunks parallel and then focusing on creating a more conical shape with the foliage. Thank you so much!

Your very welcome! I think You have a good one. Feed it well and let it ride for awhile to gain vigor.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[RhyleeRebecca]

Bonsai Wiring Essentials

Uncover professional secrets to wiring better, faster and more accurately in this FREE mini-class, and develop beautiful bonsai trees!

www.craftsy.com

There are 5 videos here that will help tremendously.
There is nothing bonsai near me and I've learned mostly on raw nursery stock
a few eBay purchases and a few road trips many hours away.
Hope you enjoy your endeavour.

Thank you for linking these! I’ll have to do a deep dive. I’ve got two youngsters right now that have been worked from raw material but they’re too young to see much progress.

 

[RJG2]

If you haven't joined yet, there's a study group for southern Maine that meets the first Sunday of the month.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to make one yet as the schedule hasn't aligned with mine (that's what happens when you have 4 and 2 year olds), but I'm part of the Facebook group.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/648711472163405/

 

[Srt8madness]

I would remove all that wire on the right trunk, look up the two branch method, and rewire if you feel it needs to be wired. Right now there are wires girdling the trunk that will bite in and even choke the trunk if not monitored close enough. Wires under other wires can cause (minor) issues if you unwrap instead of cutting off.

The wire holding the two trunks together seems excessive as well, a single loop should do the trick without circling each trunk.

Cool looking tree!